WHO: Europe ‘epicentre’ of monkeypox outbreak
Agencies
COPENHAGEN: The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday Europe remained the epicentre of the global monkeypox outbreak, which posed a “real risk” with more than 1,500 cases reported in the region.
The UN health body already announced on Tuesday that it would hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
“Europe remains the epicentre of this escalating outbreak with 25 countries reporting more than 1,500 cases, or 85% of the global total,” Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, told a press conference on Wednesday.
WHO’S European region comprises 53 countries, including several in Central Asia.
“The magnitude of this outbreak poses a real risk. The longer the virus circulates, the more it will extend its reach, and the stronger the disease’s foothold will get in non-endemic countries,” Kluge said.
Until the past few months, monkeypox had generally been confined to Western and Central Africa.
He stressed “that the monkeypox virus is not in itself attached to any specific group”.
The EU announced on Tuesday that it had purchased almost 110,000 vaccine doses to help tackle the outbreak, though the WHO does not recommend mass vaccination against monkeypox.
Virus in semen?
The WHO is looking into reports that the monkeypox virus is present in the semen of patients, exploring the possibility that the disease could be sexually transmitted, a WHO official said on Wednesday. However, the agency reiterated that virus is mainly transmitted via close interpersonal contact.
In recent days, scientists have detected viral DNA in the semen of a handful of monkeypox patients in Italy and Germany, including a lab-tested sample that suggested the virus found in the semen of a single patient was capable of infecting another person and replicating.
The detection of viral DNA does not necessarily imply that monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease, such as HIV/ AIDS or syphilis, which are understood to be caused by pathogens that pass from one person to the next specifically in semen, vaginal secretions or other bodily fluids.